THE FREIGHTS QUESTION.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 10899, 4 September 1897, Page 2

THE FREIGHTS QUESTION.

~.., (NewTZeal^nd Times', Augustus.) He W. C. Buchanan has advanced the,controversy on the freights question another stage by delivering an address to the Bush Districts Farmers* Club: at TVoocville'. As lie made fre. queufc reference to an article which appeared in the Ximeß,,it miy be as well to examine some' of the arguments adduced by. the speaker,'and, ! while we desire to make every allowance for fcbe fact that ilr Buchanan had icsS his notesleft them behind;—there are certain discrepancies, that ought, in justice to" himself and thosa" associated with him on the •SVeJghbs Reduction Gotn'ibitfe'ej'to be explained tfitbbnt ■ less. oE time. Tae spsak.ee informed the. settlers ■"• r-^Who.'by'thtf'way, had just enjoyed- a-capiisl dinner ;and bdnoured/sSytiraKtoasts—-that there;■ .were'.l7,ooo'' sbeep-farraers in vile colony, and "that out of this number 700 had ■, signed-.-.the; guarantees-to;;the Freights RSdu ctio a.. Committee, two:thirds'of whom grow less" than 50 biles apieca and only one-fifth over 100 bales.- He declared" thjLfc. the- shipping of the whole of the. wool-at'the reduced rate wonld .mean a saving .of '£130,000,' This, divided amongst 17,030 .people would mean an average of sorasfchiDgleESthftn £8 per headprovided,- of course, that they all shared equally but whai; it would mem to the 50-'oaio mea he did nob say. No mention was made of those who have signed bub cannot —on account of. liensvupon tiieir clips—:leM-with the wool they hava s'igEed .to ship through the committee. ■Neither was anything said as to the very small. amount.which .may possibly be saved by even, ■the largest-of,the stoppers, ■ .We..have .pointed out, and'ire dseire now to emphasise the stats-' Tneufc, thsi.jfpn.ly the large: sheep-farmers can'1 benefit to any ' appreciable.extent, because wheu the preliminary expenditure iv connection with the starting of: the Freights'7 Reduction Committee is taken into consideration —not to ■■spefcfc'<jrth'e;ißsui*»nces and. the possible delay ia, arrival of sailing vessels iv London—the. saving will • not 'be • stupendous. . Meantime the regular service of staimeis,; upon which the success ,of the, dairy produce tradii so much depends, will have been jeopardised,.,- !,for-,.-..it ..is . well . knowa th»t the^siiipgiag companies depend largoly upon the wool' season' for ■ the profits which1 enable them to maintain the service The question hks been pat to the 'large, ruuhotclers, who are mainly interested.ia.the recent/freights re-' dactip'o'&bVeiiietit; astn whit theybaya* to say regarding the1 probable injury io the" small, -pro^ duceiv arid-their replies -have fieeritthab "they i.'have'-m&rely? theiiv 6am interests to consider>! ■"-.:■.. • Mr Buchanan said the atticteinjthe.Times hid '? sneered at-iheiships to, fecjaat-fcered.by, |vithß;pomaiii;tee ; as ; beingsailers.* i•that the^e., were to!'be .classed;Jf. Al'at,Llpjd's.". |~!We"have'inever disguised'that 'fact,'.but tf'*ye j rather made a strong point of it, and we_ shall i!'now show why!:' ■'"Lloyd's' Register;" in ';ita '' K«y to Symbols of' Glassification iv' -Register Book," defines-■" Al at Lloyd'p "as wood"6i coin-' Vf'ositt ships. Mr;1 ;Buehanan'.:-fnrthei?':' stated i'thafc '-'^the ' ■shipping,,;:compaiiie's ;:.'employed sailers,' too,''!aiid ■ith'ab.V"half- their jifaiiers ;were ohartejed;",-. -,I'liat?- is. true:;*.-.;, but. it !is true also that not a single ship ■ ■;was I' chartered by the shipping campahies that was. not absolutely guaranteed as" 100A1 at Lloyd's." " Turing,to the "Register " again we find the t vessels so classed as " ships built of iron I .or steel." It' is. p'srfectly; well, known that i woodeu ships, are nofc looked upon as favourably by shippers as'the iron or steel vessels, aod for j the very ijood reison th&t the .latter class of ,yes;e.i i§ of fi later type and reckoned a better bottonr." Mr Buchanan may not have been I aware of these facts. At any rate, when asked [ the question by Mr Fpuntaine-. " Are the com- ' pauiua' sailers classed .'.'Al. at' Lloyd's ?": he 1 replied, "He hid not .had time to look, bub i thought it would be a tight squeeze." Let ifc.be ■ adned that no one who has «ver yet chipped stuff, from the port of Wellington but knows that j uever w.a3 a ehip'.chartered ;b,y the',companies but was'jregistered: " 100A1 at Lloyd's." There ! io the r further 'poiafe! that'.2oo,ooo bales of wool were despatched by the direct steamers ' last year, and 150,000 by the highest class i sailers. These facts may be left to speak for themselves. The . committee,' Mr . Buchanan i argusd, could cob be blamed -for 'not-giving the shipping companies a chance. The companies had been written to, but had not replied. " The committed had approached the Tyser line, but it had failed to make any cfter1." There is a discrepancy here on tbe part,of the speivker which may be traceabfe to the loss of .his notes, for we are informed ;that Mr B6chai6au,>when in Napier recently, rhade an offer to Captain Xodd of |d and 5 par cent, for wool per sfce&mar, and requested the captain, who is tha New Zealand -representative of the Tyser line, to cable that opmpany sn London. . This.was..done,.and "the" reply ,camg,^^ot, good edoifgh/'. Captaiii Todd then informed Mr Buchanan that it was! not likely the, Tyser Company, would carry wool at fd for hiin'whea iti nad aii offer, from Melbourne to load its steamer, thoWestmeath,,at -Ad »nd,s. per cent., ;.-... , Mr J. Cotter asked some questions of Mr. Buchan*n, which were of an interesting character; and, among.other.things, wanted to know why the price pnjd for sheep by the freezing compsniea had depreased-by 2s br.3s per carcase, rwhile the said companies had been paying 10 per cent, dividends, carrying money to reserve funds, and writing ;cff: depreciation ; and this, too, while the prices at Home remained much the same as before ? Another thing'sboni; these freezing companies was 'that they.Ee'eihed to work together. They never'asked one another's clients, and sheep rose simultaneously. Ifc looked cut and dried. He naively added.- "Mr Buchanan has been speaking about reciprocity ; the settlers would like some reciprocity in this .nutter.:" Mr'Buchanan', replied that though money could be got at 4 per cent, the freezing conipanies did not think it was " gcod,enough" TlieTJusiness was si risky one, and people would require'^ more than that to induce them to puc their money into it. The Meat ExporS; Compatiy had not averaged, more thau; 6 per cent. As to the coiueideuce in the price of sheepr that was very _ natural; they (the freezing companies) had", to give what each other gave. No onf? disputes the right; of the freezing compaciea to do the bast for. theni-., Belvts,'bufl sureTy; wh.s.t is';Bauce"fpr.tbe.jr'er-z»r goose !must i\io be' sauce"' for., the shipping g&nder. Mr Buchanan very properly, argued tbainf •Mf'Coitev' had shares in a' cpinpaD'y be would Aspect'the directors '.to so" may.age. the affairs'of'the'e'ompany that he would be.able to get par value for those shares if he wished to sell them. ; 'J.'h'e"Meab"Esport Company, he said, had been so managed, and its sharas were now seliing at their face .value. This, of course, is eminently satisfactory for ths Meat Export 'Company; bufc we put it.to Mr Buchanan if it is a fair thing to the shareholders of the shipping compauies so to treat them that tbe only freight which is afc all likely to enable ihsni to oarry'on their business at a'reasonable profit shall ba wrested from thep> ? The New Zealaud Shipping. Company's share* were originally £10 ; of t.uis amount ■Q?, !ia? been written oi£ sltogetUer, Thus reducing the face Value io ,C 8 ~bufc these Bsms Aares are now on the markst afc £4 2< 6d 'and, further, no dividend higher than .4 per ceuii'jscs ever been paid to the shareholders. Contrast, this state of Uliogs with the fact that tbe Meat; Eiporfc Cosapa.ny.has, for the past five or six ytars, paid 8 psr, cent, dividends, and we think iji will ba admitted that there is »v utter luck of the principle of "Jiyo and let live " in the cpuduct of the freights- Reduction Committee. ....... _ . We hold no brief for tha shipping company; we are concerned only for the welfare of a great interest with which the future o? pur export trade i* cloudy bound, up. , Whatever is done to the hurt of the shipping companies must injuriously affect, not ouly the dairy produce trade, bufc that of the wool, l'rozm meat, and other exuorts. In spite of the fact that the shipping-corn-

paaies b&va'had encb. miserable returns from the trade they have carried on beiwp.ea I New Zealand, and the world's msrkst9, they j have maintained a magnificent, service and ! have run their veisols to a.time table; fiiore . than this, wlieu the press of the wool season has demanded it, they have chartered the highest class\oE sailing ship, and have civrieii freight by these at oocvaapoudinglr lower rate?: In common fxirne<s to th«se companies, fcben, and for tue sake of the sajall settlers, whose future success depend* so much upou the. raaintenauoo of a regal a r steamer secvice.we hsvedtprecitsdihe agitation which lws baun carried on for-the reduction below paying point. aS wool freights and the substitution of foreißii-owned sailing ships (merely classed '.'AI jit Lloyd's ")'fpr the.hi&her class of vessels placed at the disposal of shippers i by (lie companies.;,to whose good offices the traders of this colony owe so much.